The cameras can never lie;
this well known saying is of course a complete fallacy. This is proven when
looking behind the scenes on any major movie and Battle of Britain was no
exception, the movie magic has proved to be a major stumbling block in
compiling a definitive listing of the squadron codes that the aircraft wore
during filming. For example, a shot of a Spitfire landing at North Weald and
taxying back to the dispersal, more than likely uses two different
Spitfires, a flyable example for the actual landing shot and one of the
taxiable machines complete with actor in the cockpit is seen to taxi to the
dispersal area, but with both Spitfires wearing the same squadron letter
codes. Allowing actors to actually taxi aeroplanes compounded the problem.
Michael Caine, playing Squadron Leader Canfield was known to be petrified
when sitting in a Spitfire and was very reluctant to touch anything in the
cockpit in case the aircraft took off with him at the controls. Robert Shaw,
playing Squadron Leader Skipper was on one occasion a little too
enthusiastic. Apparently, unbeknown to him, the mechanics had charged up the
Spitfires brakes overnight. Leaping into the aircraft during the filming of
the scramble scene, Shaw, with great zest taxied across the grass and, when
out of shot, applied the brakes; the Spitfire promptly tipped onto its nose
and smashed the propeller. A very red faced Robert Shaw climbed out of the
aircraft, walked back to the dispersal, where another taxiable Spitfire was
made ready, “Skipper’s” codes AI-A were placed on the fresh Spitfire and the
scene re-shot. The actual aircraft that tipped onto its nose was TE384 and
with different codes AI-Q, it was left on its nose to add a realistic
background to the airfield attack sequences.

Spitfire L.F.XVIe TE384.

So as not to apportion any
glory or blame to any particular squadron. Codes not used by actual RAF
units involved in the real 1940 Battle were chosen. Spitfires wore AI, CD,
DO and EI squadron codes (although aircraft wearing EI codes did not feature
in the finished film), with the replica Spitfires wearing BO codes.
Hurricanes in the French airfield scenes wore just the individual aircraft
letter and when based in England
they took up MI and KV codes. MI coded aircraft also had the Polish insignia
on the cowlings.

A popular mistake when
listing Battle of Britain Film aircraft is the inclusion of Spitfire T.8. G-AIDN.
It has been confirmed by one time owner J.S.Fairey that the aircraft was
never used in conjunction with the movie.

Other aircraft used in
conjunction with the film included three Percival Proctor aircraft acquired
by Hamish Mahaddie for conversion to “scale” Junkers Ju-87 Stukas. G-AIEY,
G-ALOK and G-AIAE. Vivian Bellamy (the well known aircraft restorer and
replica builder) was contracted to convert the Proctors to resemble Stuka
aircraft. However only one aircraft (G-AIEY) was completed after it was
decided not to use the “scale Stukas” in the film. G-AIEY did fly several
times and was fully painted up in German markings as “W8-AE” and “W8-AR”. At
the end of filming three Proctor’s were put up for disposal at RAF Bovingdon
along with a number of Spitfires, Messerschmitts and the Canadian Hurricane.
It is believed that the Proctors were not sold and were subsequently
scrapped. This has never been confirmed and their true fate remains a
mystery.

Along with all the other MoD
owned Spitfires, several were allocated to Spitfire Productions but never
used in the film, these being Mk Ia K9942, Mk XIVc NH904, Mk XIV RM694, Mk
XIVe TB863, Mk XVIe TE184 and Mk F24 PK724. Some of these aircraft provided
spare parts to rebuild the flyable and taxying Spitfires that were used in
the actual filming. Also despatched to RAF Henlow but not used were: Junkers
Ju87D-3 494083, Junkers Ju 88R-1 360043, Heinkel He IIIH-23 701152 and
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 10639. Last but by no means least, the B-25 Mitchell
camera plane N6568D returned to the USA and lapsed into a state of
semi-dereliction at New Jersey, until moved to Florida by restorer To
Reilly, who re-built the B-25 to pristine condition at his facility at
Kissimmee, the aircraft emerging as a completely stock Mitchell, resplendent
as Chapter XI N6578D remained airworthy until 1998.

Aircraft participating in the
making of the Battle
of Britain

Key:

F – Flying

T – Taxiing

S – Static

IS – In Storage

SP – Spare Parts

R – Under restoration

? – Not known

Spitfires

Mark

Serial/Registration

Status

in film

Serials carried in
film

Squadron codes carried
in film

Status now

Ia

AR213/G-AIST

F

N3311, N3316

AI-B, AI-C, CD-B

R

IIa

P7350/G-AWIJ

F

N3310, N3312, N3317, N3321

AI-A, AI-E, CD-C, CD-M, BO-H

F

L.F Vb

AB910

F

N3318, N3319, N3322

AI-D, AI-J, CD-K

F

F.Vb

BL614

T

N3313, N3315, N3327

AI-B, AI-D, DO-M

S

F.Vb

BM597

S

Nil

Nil

F

L.F Vb

EP120

S

N3312

AI-B, AI-N

F

F.Vc

AR501/G-AWII

F

N3311, N3314, N3316, N3320

AI-B, AI-E, AI-G, DO-A, DO-H

F

H.F.IXb

MH415/G-AVDJ/N415MH

F

N2210, N3310, N3311, N3312, N3314,
N3317, N3319, N3320

AI-A, AI-C, AI-M, AI-N, CD-A, CD-B,
DO-K, DO-M

F

H.F.IXb

MH434/G-ASJV

F

N3310, N3313, N3314, N3315, N3319

AI-A, AI-D, AI-E, AI-K, CD-F

F

IXc

MK297/G-ASSD

F

N3310, N3311, N3314, N3317

AI-A, AI-B, AI-H, CD-A, CD-E, DO-N,
EI-A

F

L.F.IXc

MK356

S

N3328

AI-R

F

Tr.9

MJ772/G-AVAV

F

Nil

AI-D, CD-H, DO-H

F

Tr.9

TE308/G-AWGB

F

Nil

CD-F, CD-J, CD-K, DO-H, DO-K, DO-L,
EI-A, EI-J

F

F.XIVc

RM689/G-ALGT

F

N3310, N3311, N3318, N3321

AI-A, AI-M, AI-N, CD-D, CD-J, DO-B,
DO-D

F

L.F.XVIe

RW382

S

N3314, N3316, N3320

AI-G, DO-I, DO-M, EI-G

R

L.F.XVIe

SL574

S

N3310

AI-A, AI-E

S

L.F.XVIe

SM411

T

N3310, N3311, N3323, N3329

AI-A, AI-B, AI-S, EI-M

S

L.F.XVIe

TB382

T

N3310, N3316, N3320, N3323, N3370

AI-A, AI-C, AI-H, DO-A, DO-L, EI-A

IS

L.F.XVIe

TD248

?

Nil

Nil

F

L.F.XVIe

TE311

T

N3321, N3324

AI-C, AI-M, DO-H

R

L.F.XVIe

TE356

T

N3312, N3324

AI-C, AI-P, DO-M, EI-C

F

L.F.XVIe

TE384

T

N3314, N3315, N3316, N3320, N3323,
N3324

AI-H, AI-E, AI-L, AI-P, AI-Q, DO-L

F

L.F.XVIe

TE476

T

N3311, N3320

AI-B, AI-F

F

P.R.XIX

PM631

F

N3317, N3320

AI-L, DO-N

F

P.R.XIX

PM651

S

N3317, N3320, N3329

AI-S, DO-N

IS

P.R.XIX

PS853

F

N3316, N3321

AI-G, AI-M, EI-K

F

P.R.XIX

PS915

S

N3328

AI-R

F

F.21

LA198

S

N3316, N3317

AI-G, DO-C

S

Ia

K9942

SP

None

None

S

F.XIVc

NH904

SP

None

None

S

F.XIV

RM694

SP

None

None

IS

F.XIVe

TB863

SP

None

None

F

F.XVIe

TE184

SP

None

None

F

F.24

PK724

SP

None

None

S

Hurricanes

Mark

Serial/Registration

Status

in film

Serials carried in
film

Squadron codes carried
in film

Status now

I

P2617

T

H3426, H3427

MI-C, MI-S

S

I

27015

T

H3418

F, L, MI-A, MI-D

R

IIc

LF363

F

H3420, H3422

MI-A, MI-D, MI-H, KV-C

F

IIc

LF751

S

Nil

Nil

S

IIc

PZ865

F

H3421, H3423, H3424

MI-C, MI-D, MI-G, KV-A, OK-I

F

XII

C-AWLW

F

H3418, H3421

D, F, MI-A, MI-D, MI-F, KV-B

F

While the RAF
contingent has been fairly easy to track down, a very different story
prevails with the German/Spanish aircraft that were used in the film. The
majority of the Spanish aircraft that came to the UK for filming were sold
shortly after the film was completed and shipped to the USA, where several
of them have gone to ground and not been seen for several years. There is
however, no doubt that almost every surviving CASA 2111 in the world today
must have at some stage been used in the film, either in Spain or in the UK.

CASA 2111's
used as Heinkels in the UK

Serial/Registration

Status in film

Codes carried in film

Status now

B2-137/G-AWHB

F

6J-PR, U6-DL, VI-BN, A5-ER

IS

B2-166/G-AWHA

F

6J-BR, 6J-PR, V1-CL, A5-BN

S

Hispano HA-1112-M1L

Serial/Registration

Status in film

Codes carried in film

Status now

C4K-31/G-AWHE

F

Red 8

R

C4K-61/G-AWHF

F

No film markings used aircraft
written off at Duxford 21/05/68

?

C4K-75/G-AWHG

F

Yellow 11

?

C4K-99/G-AWHM

F

Yellow 5

IS

C4K-100/G-AWHJ

F

Red 13 (plus MI-V as Hurricane)

S

C4K-102/G-AWHK

F

Red 7

S

C4K-105/G-AWHH

F

Red 4

IS

C4K-106/G-AWHI

F

Yellow 8

IS

C4K-112/G-AWHC

F

Red 11 (2-seat aircraft)

IS

C4K-122/G-AWHL

F

Yellow 7 (plus MI-T as Hurricane)

S

C4K-126/G-AWHD

F

Red 9

IS

C4K-127/G-AWHO

F

MI-S (as Hurricane)

S

C4K-130/G-AWHN

F

Black chevron marks

IS

C4K-144/G-AWHP

F

Red 3

C4K-152/G-AWHR

F

White 5

IS

C4K-169/G-AWHT

F

Red 5

R

C4K-170/G-AWHS

F

Yellow chevron marks

S

During filming in
Spain, April 1968, six Buchons were restored to Taxying status at Tablada
Airfield. After the Spanish location filming was completed all six taxying
aircraft were purchased by the Victory Air Museum at Mundelin, Illinois,
USA. All of which were subsequently sold on to new owners over a period of
years.

Serial/Registration

Status in film

Codes carried in film

Status now

C4K-107

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

F

C4K-121

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

R

C4K-131

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

?

C4K-134

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

S

C4K-135

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

?

C4K-172

T

Details of taxying aircrafts colour
schemes not known

F

All four static Buchons came to the
UK during filming and were used for spares and cockpit shot's etc.